BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Hailed by the Italian publication Effetto Arte for her surreal works that integrate digital and traditional tools of the trade, painter Anya Rubin excels at depicting a culture struggling to evolve at the same pace as technology. Floating brains, human bodies with animal heads, selfie portraits and the frequent presence of a motherboard grid as backdrop are potent critiques of the current zeitgeist.
Created with acrylics, enamels and oils (often back-lit within light boxes), her cutting observations are frequently accompanied by a sly dash of humor — one that seems rooted in curiosity and concern rather than irony and disdain. That’s best illustrated in one of the light box works, “Falling.” Although connected through the computer, Rubin sees the human race as “more animal than brain-functioning beings. We are falling through the motherboard grid away from our brains — as if we were on an upward path to get to the brain but we just can’t make it and keep falling.”
This salon exhibition is hosted by the West Village’s Duet Brasserie restaurant. Executive Chef/Partner, Dmitry Rodov (who, like the artist, is of Russian heritage) has created a special dish inspired by Rubin’s vivid color palette and compositions. A percentage of proceeds from that dish, as well as from the sale of Rubin’s work, will be donated to The Museum of Russian Art in Jersey City, New Jersey.
ANYA RUBIN: “A DUET OF ART AND FOOD”
At Duet Brasserie
37 Barrow St. at Seventh Ave.
On view daily, from Feb. 3–10,
during regular restaurant hours
Visit duetny.com
Call 212-255-5416
For artist info, visit anyarubin.com
